Joe Allen will line up against his boyhood club Swansea for Stoke on Monday but Potters boss Mark Hughes feared it might have been the other way around.
The midfielder left Liverpool in the summer after failing to hold down a regular place in the starting line-up at Anfield.
Swansea, the club Allen first joined as a 10-year-old before leaving in 2012, were keen to take him back but it was Stoke who won the battle.
The 26-year-old has made an immediate impression at the bet365 Stadium and has proved unexpectedly prolific in front of goal with four goals in his last four games.